Earth Day

What on earth is Earth Day?Are we bothered about our planet Earth?How many of us really care about our Earth?Are we worried about our Earth’s future?

Are we busy campaigning to save the EarthAre we big into saving the birds and the bees?Are we on a mission to save the rain forest?Are we wanting to save animals from extinction?

Why does the Earth have climate issues?Is Mother Earth trying to tell us something?

Do we see the Earth as separate to us?Do we feel connected to the Earth?Do we think all this planet Earth stuff is just twaddle?Do we wonder what on Earth we are doing here?

Do we know what Earth life is all about?Do we ever question what we have created on Earth?Do we understand our relationship with planet Earth?

So here is what the Earth Day website is saying –

Earth Day is the largest secular observance in the world. (1)

Hello – what does that actually mean to us on the street?Does anyone know what this is saying?

We are being asked to join Global Teach-Ins and the March for Science.
The campaign for this year is all about environmental and climate literacy.
We have a choice to stand up, join up and take action. (2)

Some of us may be a bit too busy with our overwhelming schedules, to attend a teaching session about environmental and climate knowledge.

Some of us may be wondering how knowledge in theory is going to make a difference to our planet.

Some of us may be thinking that we have enough going on in our own lives, so there is no time to worry about the planet.

Some of us may be too distracted by our earthly comforts, to be concerned about planet Earth.

Facts about Planet Earth

Did You Know –

4.54 billion years – age of planet Earth

1,000 miles per hour – rate we are moving on Earth

24,901 miles – Earth’s circumference

67,000 miles per hour – rate Earth moves around the Sun

8 minutes 19 seconds – time taken for sunlight to reach Earth

93 million miles away from the Sun – 3rd planet away (3)

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics
Without the action of these plate tectonics, our Earth would overheat as there would be no other way to recycle carbon

Earth is shaped like a flattened sphere

It has layers – an inner and outer core, the mantle and an outer crust (4)

Mantle is the most solid bulk of the Earth’s interior
It lies between the crust and the core
84% of Earth’s volume
1,800 miles thick (5)

Earth is made up of
32.1% Iron
30.1% Oxygen
15.1% Silicon
13.9% Magnesium

70% of Earth is covered with oceans (4)

10,000 km Earth’s atmosphere extends into space

The atmosphere is made up of 5 layers
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Exosphere

Earth is like a great big magnet – forming a region called the magnetosphere (4)

The magnetosphere moves the solar wind around the Earth

The magnetic field extends thousands of kilometres out from the Earth’s surfaceWithout the magnetosphere, particles from the Sun’s solar wind would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts of radiation (4)

However, the magnetic field has been weakening (3)

Solar day – time taken for the Sun to return to the same point in the sky

These crater lakes sit above volcanic earth
Magma below the surface releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the lakes
This leaves a deep CO2 rich layer right above the lakebed which can be released in an explosion, suffocating to death anyone passing by

2,000 years – most active – Stromboli Volcano has been erupting in Italy (3)

So here we have some fascinating facts about our planet Earth.

Do we go WOW, marvel at the NASA images and drift off in our fantasy galaxy world or do we stop and ask – how much is going on that we really have nothing to do with?In other words, we are spinning at 1,000 miles an hour and yet we cannot feel it.

We live on this big enhousing planet that does a job with all this stuff and has an intelligence that we cannot quite work out.

However, we as humans have enough intelligence to have worked out all the above facts, so that in itself tells us something.

But how come we have not yet worked out WHY we have no cure for Diabetes or Cancer or WHY ill mental health is now showing up in our young children?

We like to think we are thee most intelligent species on Earth.
Does that mean we All KNOW that our Earth is in serious trouble?
Can we agree that our Earth – what we call the world, is in a mess.
Our global statistics on the following blogs confirm something is not right.

WHY are we blaming the world and its brothers for anything and everything?

WHY are we so unwilling to take full Responsibility for the choices we are making every single day?

WHY are we dismissing those who are living another way that does make sense?

WHY are we waiting for the government and others to tell us what to do, when we have a choice – a hand in how to live our life?

WHY are we not stepping up and saying something is wrong and we need answers?

CO2 concentrations are heading towards values not seen in the past 200 million years. This, plus the Sun gradually getting stronger means that the climate may be heading towards warmth not seen in the past half a billion years. (6)

The current speed of climate change is ‘highly unusual’.

CO2 has not been added to the Earth’s atmosphere as rapidly as today for at least the past 66 million years.

If we continue on our current path and exploit all conventional fossil fuels, then as well as the rate of CO2 emissions, the absolute climate warming is also likely to be unprecedented in at least the past 420 million years. (6)

Natural disasters are expected to increase in frequency due to climate change. (7)

Isle de Jean Charles, USA has lost 98% of its land mass due to rising sea levels. It has been sinking since 1955.

2003 – a heatwave hit Europe killing more than 20,000 people.15,000 of those were killed in France.

Drought is a very serious one and something we can all understand as the potential outcome is farmer suicide.

One of the major health effects of flooding seems to be the mental health aspects.
The worse the damage, the more likely a person is to have a mental health problem.
James Rubin, Psychologist, King’s College London (7)

So here we have some facts and statements confirming there is a direct correlation between mental health and natural disasters. Our job on Earth seems to be towards fixing the problem but how on earth can you fix global natural disasters?
No amount of intelligence can change an “Act of God”.

This term is used by the insurance world to confirm a natural disaster, which no human can control.

That means we live with a constant unknowing if there is ever going to be a natural disaster that may wipe us out.

Do we care?

Are we worried?Are we bothered?

Have we even thought about this?
Have we got better things to focus on?
Have we asked WHY we have natural disasters?

Could it be possible that Mother Earth is simply correcting what we have done?

Dear World,

What if the mess we have created on this Earth is coming from our own choices?

What if our Earth is reflecting something to us?

What if our Earth is very sensitive which is the same as we are in our essence?

What if our Earth is living in accordance with the natural laws of the Universe?

What if Mother Earth obeys all the natural laws and does not waiver from this?In other words, she is not putting human needs before Truth.

What if the natural extinction of animals is part of the grand evolution?

What if we are all on a path of evolution on this Earth plane?

What if our Earth plane is aligned to the rest of the Universe and beyond?

It talks about the hormone called Melatonin and its job is to regulate our night and day, sleep and wake cycles.
Bingo – here we have it confirmed!
Our body has cycles and what do we do? – go against these natural ways of living.

At three months old, levels of Melatonin enter a cyclical pattern that continues throughout our whole life. (8)

Caffeine, contraceptive pills, diabetes medication and anti-depressants affect the natural production of Melatonin.Hello – is this spelling something out to us?Are we joining the dots here?

We cannot ignore this fact of nature telling us we have this biological process recurring naturally on a 24-hour cycle, known as a circadian rhythm.

Even when our human body is kept away from ALL external light sources and time references, the body maintains a near perfect rhythm, typically relaxing into a natural rhythm of 24 hours and 11 minutes. (8)

Most recent and accurate results suggest the natural circadian rhythm is close to the length of a natural solar day. (8)

Hello – can we just re-read this again.
Even in the absence of light fluctuations, this natural internal process continues AND our natural circadian rhythm is close to the length of a natural solar day.

Next – a woman has a natural menstruation cycle of 28 days.
Note the moon takes 28 days to go around the Earth.

Is this all just a co-incidence or is there more?
Is the moon just reflecting light from the sun?
Is the moon just a dead thing out there that has no life?
Does the moon have a part to play for us on Earth?
Is there something more that we can pay attention to here?
Are we living in accordance with the cycles of the moon?
Does the app called Our Cycles offer us something?
Can we learn from the founder of Our Cycles what it is like to live our life in cycles?

So here we have two confirmations that cannot be ignored or dismissed because they exist. Our body lives in cycles and rhythms and so does our Earth.
That means there is a direct correlation to how the Earth moves every day and how we live every day.

Could it be possible we are not aware that the following directly affect our natural sleep cycle –

Comments 42

We spend so much time, energy and money trying to change things and campaign so that we can protect the Earth, but what I get from this blog and from this website is that it is the way that we live that actually makes a difference, not what we do or how much money we throw at any cause.

On a microcosmic level, if we live to our natural circadian rhythm, this puts us in sync with the rhythm of the Earth and in turn connects us with the Universe and the Cosmos and the Stars and beyond.

So it is very clear, if we take care of ourselves and our bodies, including valuing sleep and place this first and foremost above all else, we will naturally live on the Earth without harm and that in turn takes care of our environment.

Thank you so much Simple Living Global for bringing to us the simplicity of how we can practically live within the natural laws of nature in everyday life by living to rhythms and cycles.

One of my earliest memory’s in life is stuffing newspaper under a door to keep water from coming into the house and then walking away from my home in water up to my knees, holding on to my mom’s hand. This was from a hurricane in 1954.

Until now, I have never really felt what that must have been like for a 3 year old.

Lately I have noticed that when a storm passes I have felt uneasy and my sleep has been off. Could it be I am feeling some of this old trauma of being flooded out of my home?

It makes sense that Earth with its intricate balance of systems and rhythms has a living wisdom of which if we were to truly feel into and get honest with ourselves about, we have as a humanity, not been living in accordance with…

The answer to all the issues we have created is here, within and all around us; The Way is shown to us in everyday by our bodies and by the body of the Earth, both of which can not but adhere to the harmony and rhythms of the Universe.

Insurance company, Liberty reported that there was a 20% increase in suicide claims in 2016. Reason being – a sharp increase in the number of farmers’ aged 55 and over ending their lives through suicide on the Northern Cape, South Africa.

The article refers to the fact that ‘farmers were living in the same difficult economy as everyone else, but on top of that they have drought to deal with.’ Henk Meintjes – Liberty insurance actuary

Living in an inner city area in London, I have never considered how environmental factors can affect farmers. Considering the economic loss of having a season of drought, I can understand the despair and eventual action of suicide if farmers’ do not have the support to deal emotionally and practically with what is going on.

I have to say it is only from reading this blog and this one for Earth Day https://simplelivingglobal.com/earth-day/ that I was able to stop and contemplate this and understand that the way that I live on the Earth and take care of myself has a profound effect both on others and on our environment.

Thank you Simple Living Global for consistently writing and making us all aware of what is happening in all four corners of the Earth.

Brilliantly well researched blog, makes absolute sense and raises questions for us all to consider in the world today.
We get on with life, yet rarely do we question what is going on around us and why it is the way it is.

Connection to our earth is critical to living in a way that respects it amazingness. If you do not experience the earth, it is hard to feel and understand what it is all about.

If you have not seen a carrot growing, how would you know that it grows underground? Watching a child dig up a carrot for the first time is an amazing experience.

We had a Russian exchange student live with us and we brought her to the ocean for the first time. Watching her expression of awe was incredible. You can not experience an ocean on a computer or movie screen.

Every time I see and even think about the ancient redwood trees in California, the level of stillness and majesty they bring, brings tears to my eyes.

I feel if we can truly experience our earth, it is easy to live a way of life that honors it and everything on it.

Another superb blog, informative and educational. It seems to me our bodies are crying out through illness and disease for us to live in alignment with our natural rhythms and cycles.. and with our beautiful planet.

We have this incredible planet to live on, guiding us with it’s natural cycles and all of nature as a reflection as to how we can live harmoniously here on earth, with each other and in alignment with the universe.. our living ways cannot but affect our precious sentient earth so it has to correct and correct.. is it time for us to change our ways?

5 May 2017 – As Ice Melts, Dangerous Diseases From The Past could Rise Again.

Are we scared?
Are we bothered?
Do news headlines like this get us concerned?
Is this way off or could it hold some truth?

Researchers have encountered complex “giant viruses” and there are concerns that some old enemies thought vanquished could reappear.

So what they are saying to us is with global warming scientists have expressed concerns that epidemics of the past centuries might come back.

This is not yet the case but what if it is and how do we feel as individuals about these viruses.
What we do know there is no medication when we get a virus and there are so may variations.

Do we ever consider that the way we choose to live may confirm whether or not we will contract these deadly viruses or any virus?
We all know that having a strong immune system has a direct correlation with our sleep quality and could this be a simple start to ensuring we are not at the mercy of what virus is going to come after us and possibly kill us?

Great blog Simple Living Global on a subject that most of us pay very little attention to, because after all, how can we, just by doing our day to day stuff, possibly harm Mother Earth?

If Albert Einstein’s equation of E=MC2 is correct and that everything is energy, then that means everything we do has an energetic quality to it and that energy has an effect on everything and everyone else.

That must mean everyone and everything is affected by our actions, deeds, thoughts and emotions. And we can be affected in a number of ways from: the many illnesses and diseases, mental issues, confidence issues, anger, sadness, frustration, etc.

If that is so, then the earth can be affected in the same way so is it possible then that Mother Earth will occasionally vent her issues?

Even when we think we are doing the right thing, we have the potential to harm.

There are many organisations that purport to ‘Save the Earth’ but is it possible that these organisations are using anger to get their message across and if so, is it possible that that anger is then going into the earth and they are doing the one thing that they are trying to stop others from doing, i.e. harming Mother Earth.

A very wise man, Serge Benhayon, says, in regards to the energetic truth, “in everything we do, we either heal or we harm.”

When we start to view everything as energy, we realise we have an even greater responsibility to make sure everything we do doesn’t harm anyone or anything else.

The developed countries of the world use a huge percentage of the earth’s resources. Why do we believe that we, (I live in the USA the king of consumption) the more developed countries, deserve more resources per capita than the so called underdeveloped countries?

Has our quality of life really improved with all this progress that the we have achieved?

Is all the climate change and pollution that we have caused really worth it, when you look at the increasing levels of disease, poverty and stress in the world?

It time to take responsibility for our effect on our earth. Is what we have created what we want?

Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is presenting a way of Living that addresses all these issues.
It is about taking true responsibility for our individual lives, in the same way that our natural world works, everything that happens takes into consideration everything on our planet.

They question whether our complacency comes from a feeling that the ocean is so big we can treat it badly and it wont fail.

Yet is is failing. The projections say if we carry on as we are, by 2050 our oceans will contain more plastic than they contain fish and all the coral will be gone.

They describe information and awareness as the cure for ‘ocean blindness’. We already know our oceans are in a terrible state because of us – we know we are overfishing and polluting. This awareness is only going to increase as research and technology give more and more access to the details. It will become harder and harder to hide from the truth.

An interesting problem they cite is shared governance. The ocean belongs to everyone, it’s health is all our responsibility and yet we don’t treat it that way.

Where do we think we’re going when we place our time, energy and financial resources on establishing colonies on other planets?

It makes no sense considering that as a human race on Earth we are struggling with mental illness including anxiety and stress which are going through the roof. Due to our current way of living most are not immune to this, even those involved in building the colonies on other planets – so what is going on?

Are we seeking to escape Planet Earth to build a better life on another planet because we dislike what we’ve got?

I learnt some years ago that whenever we leave a situation unresolved and move elsewhere the same issues come with us and it is not long before we start experiencing the same thing that we were trying to escape from. So what if changing jobs because we don’t like our boss, moving house because we are having problems with our landlord or neighbour, changing planets because we don’t like the one we’ve got is not the answer?

Living on Planet Earth and being responsible for how we choose to live and the imprint we leave behind for others is the key. No point leaving a mess behind, by escaping for others to clear up as that in no way takes care of Mother Earth.

Same goes for any situation, we need to clear up our mess first before we even think about moving on as in the end someone else will be stepping into the home or the job that we leave so what quality are we leaving behind for them?

Science shows that developing on wetland areas, prairies and flood plains massively contributes to flooding. Wetlands and the like are natural drainage areas and can soak up large amounts of flood water. Their urbanisation stops them doing their job.

Estimates are that development on Houston’s wetlands meant the area lost the ability to handle 4 billion gallons of storm water, which equates to $600 million of flood management construction.

Isn’t this just basic common sense for our Earth?

Why are we ignoring it?

Will we continue to ignore it when we re-build our cities after flood damage?

Sir David Attenborough giving us an important message that we cannot ignore the terrible damage that is being done to our seas, and the appalling consequences to us all if this damage is left unchecked.

THE OCEANS ARE UNDER THREAT AS NEVER BEFORE IN OUR HISTORY.

One cause is the serious risk of plastic.
Every year 8,000,000 tonnes ends up in the ocean, even remote locations.

What are we doing as individuals and how are we choosing to live?

Is this a question we all need to be asking now, so we can understand more about how we are contributing to the collective whole?

Are we ready to read and assimilate what this man is spelling out to us here –

“Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to our planet – but never before have we had the power to do something about it. Surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity and, indeed all life on Earth, depends on us.”

Is it time to see everything on our precious planet as one and the same?
In others words, what we do in our private life does affect the whole planet and beyond and there is no getting away from that immutable fact.

Could it be possible that our disregard for our ‘blue planet’ is simply a reflection of how we choose to live in daily life?

What if we started to live that word Responsibility to care for our self first and foremost then it would, by the very essence of that LIVED way, ensure we care EQUALLY for everyone and everything else, including our ‘blue planet’?

Is the Sand Running Out?
The voracious industrial demand for sand has led to an improbable global shortage – and an environmental crisis.

These are the headlines on the article.

Did you know that sand is used to manufacture a number of things – from glass to electronics, and paint and tyres?

I did not know this until reading this article.

Sands main use is in construction as sand and gravel are the main ingredients in concrete and asphalt. The article states that “sand and gravel represent the highest volume of raw material used on Earth after water.” (United Nations Environment Programme Report 2014).
Sand is usually made out of silica or quartz.

But as the opening lines state we have a crisis with sand. All types of habitats are being destroyed as producers struggle to meet demand. Producers are now turning to marine resources to obtain sand, even though dredging can be very harmfull to sea life and fisheries. In the developing world dredging is usually unregulated, or if it is regulated it is deeply corrupt.

50% of all of the sand used in construction in Morocco comes from illegal mining of beaches and coastal areas.

There is a sand mafia in India who run an illegal trade worth $2.3 billion each year.

In Tamil Nadu (India), 50,000 lorry loads of sand are mined every day and smuggled to nearby states.

In Kenya, illegal sand dredging is disrupting river courses and leaving communities without water.

In Sierra Leone, extensive mining of beaches is blamed for coastal erosion of up to 6 metres per year.

Singapore has grown in size by over 20% since its independence in 1965 by importing and sometimes actually taking sand from its neighbours to build on. Singaporean dredgers have been blamed for the disappearance of 24 Indonesian sand islands!

Then we have sand miners lives that are being put at risk –

In Vasai Creek, North of Mumbai, about 75,000 men many from India’s poorest areas work as miners to meet the countries booming construction industry. The miners dive up to 40ft into pitch black waters whilst holding onto metal buckets. They fill the buckets on the sea bottom and then are hauled up to the surface via ropes by colleagues. Two deaths have been reported this year.

A small boat filled with sand will go for 1,000 rupees on the black market; the average Indian wage is 270 rupees.

In Thane Creek, Southern Mumbai, sand mining has removed much of the food for smaller fish, which is disrupting the food chain and destroying the livelihoods of local fishermen.

One miner told the BBC that he dived 150 – 200 times a day. He said that he does not have any safety equipment and that they have just learnt to hold their breath, adding that there is raw sewage and chemical waste in the water but “we’re used to it now.”

The article is summed up with the following –

As the construction industry in Asia continues to grow over the next decade, sand and gravel reserves will be depleted at a rapid rate.

So in effect this says it all. Our desire for MORE: higher buildings, more luxurious houses, more office space, etc is all contributing to the depletion of sand.

Imagine if we all just used, bought and had what we needed, would we see a fundamental difference in sand reserves? Would they be abundant rather than depleted as they are today?

I have been noticing the level of disregard many people have for our earth. Even with the increasing level of intensity of weather around the world and the knowledge that in some way we are responsible, their is a sense insolence about it all.

There was an amazing powerful storm that swept up the east coast of the USA, breaking all sorts of snow and temperature records. A storm like I have never seen in my 66 years. This has been happening regularly in past years, each storm gets more powerful.

Yet there seems to be no response to what is happening. We just carry on, even though the devastation and hardships from these storms are intense.

Most people would agree, that Mother Earth is talking to us.

What will it take for us to listen?

Is this what is going on with Illness, violence, drug abuse, and generally our quality of life?

I applaud the author for, once again, calling to our attention the indisputable truth that everything is connected to everything. Therefore, as the blog suggests, we have an immense responsibility to do no harm to the Earth, each other, or to anything at all, in the way we live in each and every moment.

The scientific field of quantum mechanics informs us that all substance is nothing more, at a certain level, than a vibration of energy. Further, at this microscopic level, nothing exists but particles and waves. It is only the mechanism of human perception gives the appearance of substance to matter.

To me, this means that, if everything is energy – particles and waves – I am connected to the Earth.

An interesting example of my connection to the Earth is how I walk when I walk down the street. At the sub-atomic level, when I am walking down the street, where does my foot end and where does the ground beneath my feet begin, if everything is just particles and waves?

So, if at the sub-atomic level of physical reality, I am connected to the ground I walk on, the emotional state I am in whilst walking will impact the Earth.

There must be a difference to the Earth beneath me if I walk in an angry emotional state compared to if I were to walk the same ground in joy.

I am aware that my state of being affects the Earth beneath me when I walk, so I try to always remember to check the state I am in before I begin walking anywhere.

I like to walk in at least a state of appreciation so, if I am feeling anything less than great, I will call to mind something about myself or my life that I appreciate before I begin to walk. Then I will continue to look for things to appreciate as I continue to walk.

In the UK talking about the weather is what most people do especially on the street, the bus, train or the shops.

I was in the launderette and as I entered I was told how cold it was outside and did I know we got really bad weather next week and snow on Monday and Siberia weather from Tuesday. Others were joining in and I said I was aware of this.

What I noticed is how the weather really does not bother me as I feel the same inside – warm and snuggy and this just helps.

Having travelled to a warmer climate last week, I noticed again how many people go on about the weather in some way.

What if the weather has something to do with us – the inhabitants on this planet?

What if snow is giving us a message right now?

What if there are countries that are always cold and that supports other countries in some way?

What if there is a lot more to the weather that we have yet to connect to and feel?

I used to be hooked on the ‘just incase syndrome’ what to wear and what to take and these days it is a choice to plug in and connect to my body and I know just what I need and that is for the day or the week, if I am going away.

I am certain Mother Earth is communicating and it is up to each of us to connect to what is being expressed in all climates.

Clifftop homes in Norfolk, England are on the verge of falling into the sea. This is due to coastal erosion. High tides have recently washed away the cliff face.

What is it about us that wants to live literally on top of the sea or as close to nature as we can?

I can speak from lived experience, as once upon a time that was my dream and I wanted that at any cost. We moved to a green area outside London where we were surrounded by acres of green fields, forests and land. The coast was very close by.

What I have come to realise now is that we were seeking nature to balance us inside as we felt the stress of life overwhelming to say the least.

Nature has a way of self medicating us and is a much needed get away for so many.

Today I live a minute away from a busy high street and know that I no longer need any green or sea to have a steady internal state of being.

I wonder if man was ever supposed to live at the top of a cliff and mother nature is just letting us know that with her movements, when she brings correction in the form of a tsunami or a cliff face erosion.

Most of us are not open to even thinking that there could be a bigger picture here, as to why nature does these so called random things.

Maybe we are being supported to evolve even if it does not seem like it at the time.

It is expected that people will start travelling in 2031 with the view to setting up permanent human residence in Mars.

200,000 people have applied.

Psychological tests will be applied to determine whether participants can ‘ handle the enormity of the challenge’.

Conditions are said to be harsh, with the first crew there alone and confined to cramp pod-like units indefinitely.
Water supply will be limited and it is unlikely that they will be able to shower for two years.

What is it about us as human beings that we are never satisfied with where we are and what we have?

Why on earth would we want to leave one planet for another and then live in such conditions?

What is the purpose?

Is life on Earth so bad that we need to escape?

What will anyone do on Mars?

What happens to work?

What would one do all day?

Could it be possible that we are seeking ways to escape planet Earth as we do not want to take Responsibility for ourselves and our lives?

Are we in illusion to think that all of our problems will go away by going to Mars?

200,000 people applying says a lot about where we are as a human race and our commitment or lack of it to life.

“Nature has a way of self medicating us and is a much needed get away for so many.

Today I live a minute away from a busy high street and know that I no longer need any green or sea to have a steady internal state of being.”

I have many friends who look to holidays in nature, or holidays by the sea, or camping trips, or caravan breaks to provide them with a healing or re-balancing through being in nature.

They tell themselves they are just having a break, or a holiday, but I feel that they are really looking for healing and a respite from the momentum of their daily lives.

As fantastic as it is that being in nature does heal us, wouldn’t it be better if we all took responsibility for the way we live so that we could all enjoy the steady internal state that Bina Pattel describes?

Wouldn’t it be better to feel great inside all the time and not just for the few days each year we spend on holiday in the Cotswolds, or Tuscany, or Goa, or wherever?

BBC News – Radio 2 today just reported an official speaking about the typhoon in the Phillipines and he says he does not understand why it is an “Act of God” which is the term used by insurance companies for natural disasters.

When I worked in this industry a long time ago, the same term was used and at the time we were told to just give out insurance claim forms. I was so aware of the amount of fraudulent claims where people realised that no one was going to come and check the loss or damage.

It was a licence for all to just take the money on offer and many did.

Back to the news today – WHY did insurers come up with those words?
So many have lost faith and have no connection to God.

Others are lost and blindly follow what they feel, is a movement with God supposedly at the centre of the preachings and teachings.

How does one settle with the knowing that God creates these huge disasters and takes the lives and homes and towns and cities to utter devastation?

How do we explain something like this to our kids or those who have lost someone in a natural disaster?

What if we changed the words to NATURAL CORRECTION?

Would that get us asking more questions and digging deep until we could settle with the answers.

I for one no longer see it or think that it is an Act of God.

God is easy to blame like some almighty thing up above, waving his wand and doing things that we cannot explain or even comprehend.

What if these natural disasters are simply about Mother Earth bringing a correction to a part of the world that needs a real stop from the momentum they are in, which is far far away from our natural way of living?

Could this be possible or even something we could start talking about at every dinner table conversation and look at how we as individuals are contributing to the ill of the planet we enhouse?

What if our planet, just like our body suffers the consequences of your choices and then the dis-ease that follows is nothing more than what we have created?

This blog is worth re-reading every time we have a natural disaster.

The Earthquakes blog on this website is worth reading every time we hear about another earthquake, because we really do not have any answers and whilst many may think this is all way off, whacky and not science based, it may just hold the answers humanity is seeking.https://simplelivingglobal.com/earthquakes-ground-breaking-news/

Increasing tree cover may be like a ‘superfood’ for community mental health.

A study of 46,000 adults found the type of green space does matter for our mental health.

Those with 30% or more of their neighbourhood covered in some form of tree canopy had 31% lower odds of developing psychological distress. The same amount of tree cover was linked to 33% lower odds of developing fair to poor general health.

The results also state that poorer mental and general health was found among adults in areas with higher percentages of bare grass nearby.

This link gives you heaps more for those who are interested to read further.

What is of interest to note is that studies in the United States found higher death rates were found in greener American cities.

Enough said – for the purposes of this blog about Earth.

Could it be possible that trees live in a natural cycle that is totally in sync with mother earth – regardless of what we humans do or don’t do? In other words they stick to what their job is and that in itself is a reflection of the vibration – the quality of nature.

What if we want that natural way of living inside us and trees and nature can help and support when we are in their space, to align and attune us to our natural rhythms and cycles?

This could be way off and whacky sounding but what if there is something here to consider?

Mother nature continues to stay in cycles with the seasons, cycles and all the other planetary cycles and we humans have our cycles to live within those cycles, but most of us don’t as we have deviated from them a long time ago and have no intention of going back to basics, like how our ancestors lived way back, honouring what there was on offer from the reflection of the earth and all its kingdoms including the plant kingdom.

Back to real life and it would be true to say that most of us may never get the green spaces that we long for to live with because our personal situation means we have no trees or green grass or any natural local forest to visit.

So where does it leave us with our own mental health and well-being for the future?

Is there another way?

Is the superfood for our community mental health to be found in meeting our neighbours and caring for our neighbourhood and those in our community, as if they were our true family and not some separate being over there or across the street?

Is the superfood for our community going to come from our individual responsibility to engage with all others that we know and meet daily with an open heart and no judgement?

Is the superfood of our community available to us ALL now equally so, if we are willing to commit back into life and invest in humanity and that means giving people a chance to express how they feel, being open to listening and not barking out advice or nonsense chit chat, but having meaningfull conversations about what is really going on?

Could this good old fashioned way be brought back to life again in the modern 21st century, as if we are honest, our current way is not working and there are not going to be enough green spaces for all of us to migrate to in the coming years?

Brazil has had more than 72,000 fire outbreaks so far this year, an 84% increase on the same period in 2018.

Thousands of fires are burning in Brazil, many of them in the world’s biggest rainforest, which is sending clouds of smoke across the region and pumping alarming quantities of carbon into the world’s atmosphere.

Fires happen every year but some areas have suffered far more than usual. In the worst affected state, the peak day this month was 700% higher than the average for the same date over the past 15 years.

Most of the fires are agricultural, either smallholders burning stubble after harvest or farmers clearing forest for cropland. Illegal land grabbers also destroy trees so they can raise the value of the property they seize. But they are man made and mostly deliberate.

The fires are mostly illegal and are degrading the world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink and most important home for biodiversity. The fires also contribute to an alarming rise in deforestation. Scientists say the Amazon is approaching a tipping point, after which it will irreversibly degrade into a dry savannah.

In July, deforestation spiked to a level not seen in more than a decade. According to data from Brazil’s space agency, trees were being cleared at the rate of five football pitches every minute. Over the single month, 870 sq miles were lost. For scale, over that month, an area larger than Greater London was deforested.

There has been a lot of blame on the Brazilian president for weakening the environment agency, attacking conservation NGO’s (Non-Government Organisation), and promoting the opening of the Amazon to mining, farming and logging. But he is not alone. The agricultural lobby is powerful in Brazil and it has steadily eroded the protection system that was so successful from 2005-2014.

Because of what is considered a failure to protect the Amazon by the Brazilian president, there have been worldwide protests of Brazilian embassies.

But we can’t just blame the Brazilian president or the lobby groups. We are all responsible here. We all want our products and we want them as cheaply as possible.

Countries such as the UK spend small sums on overseas conservation, then promote billions of pounds worth of trade in beef, soy, timber, minerals and other products that undermine Amazon protection efforts. Brazil is now the world’s largest beef exporter and is also the second largest producer of soybeans in the world.

As reported, most of these fires are man made which confirms WE are responsible.

We can either start asking questions as to why this is going on or we can do what we normally do when something happens in our world, but is not on our doorstep and choose to dismiss it and leave it to someone else to sort the problem out.

Indonesia’s air force seeded clouds with salt, to try to stop rain reaching the slowly sinking capital, after flash floods and landslides were triggered by some of the heaviest rain ever recorded.

The death toll in Jakarta and surrounding areas rose to 43, while tens of thousands of people have been displaced. Indonesia’s technology agency and the air force carried out three rounds of cloud seeding on 3 January 2020.

The seeding – shooting salt flares to trigger rainfall – is aimed at breaking up clouds before they reach Jakarta.

Is it possible that, as a race of people, we are very good at coming up with solutions to our problems but not once ever considering that our problems are because of how we live our lives on this Earth everyday?

Is it possible that this is just a solution?

Is it possible that Mother Earth has a reason for the amount of rainwater in Indonesia at this present time?

Why do we have these incidents that we call ‘natural disasters’?

Is it possible that we have earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tornados, floods, fires, cyclones, etc. because Mother Earth is giving us a message?

Why do these natural disasters occur where they do and when they do?

Is it possible that any natural disaster is Mother Earth’s way of rebalancing?

Is it possible that Mother Earth has to ‘rebalance’ herself because of how we have been treating her?

Is it possible that it would be quite ignorant, not to mention arrogant of us, to simply just dismiss these events as ‘something that just happens’ or just ‘fate’?

Many of us imagine the seabed to be a vast expanse of sand, but it’s a jagged and dynamic landscape with as much variation as any place onshore. Mountains surge from underwater plains, canyons go miles deep, hot springs billow through fissures in rock and streams of heavy brine ooze down hillsides, pooling into undersea lakes.

These peaks and valleys are laced with most of the same minerals found on land.

Scientists have documented their deposits since at least 1868, when a dredging ship pulled a chunk of iron ore from the seabed north of Russia. Five years after that, another ship found similar nuggets at the bottom of the Atlantic, and two years after that, it discovered a field of the same objects in the Pacific.

For more than a century, oceanographers continued to identify new minerals on the seafloor – copper, nickel, silver, platinum, gold and even gemstones – while mining companies searched for a practical way to dig them up.

Today, many of the largest mineral corporations in the world have launched mining programs. One group is using a fleet of specialized ships to drag machinery across the seabed in search of diamonds. In 2018, those ships extracted 1.4 million carats from the coastal waters of Namibia. In 2019, the same company commissioned a new ship that will scrape the bottom twice as quickly as any other vessel.

Other companies and countries have embarked on national projects to exploit their own offshore deposits but the biggest prize for mining companies will be access to international waters, which cover more than half of the global seafloor and contain more valuable minerals than all the continents combined.

The problem here is that regulations for ocean mining have never been formally established. The UN has given that task to an organisation known as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and unlike most UN bodies, the ISA receives little oversight. The general secretary of the ISA convenes his own general assembly once a year. For about a week, delegates from 168 member states come together. Their assignment is not to prevent mining on the seafloor, but to mitigate its damage. They will also be issuing licences to mining companies and drafting the technical and environmental standards of an underwater mining code.

The ISA have already granted companies with exploratory permits and these companies have raised breathtaking sums of venture capital. They have designed and built experimental vehicles and begun testing methods of dredging and extraction while they wait for the ISA to complete the mining code, which will open the floodgates to commercial extraction.

At full capacity, these companies expect to dredge thousands of square miles a year. Their collection vehicles will scrape through the top five inches of the ocean floor. Ships above will draw thousands of pounds of sediment through a hose to the surface, remove the metallic objects and then flush the rest back into the water.

Some of that slurry will contain toxins such as mercury and lead, which could poison the surrounding ocean for hundreds of miles. The rest will drift in the current until it settles in nearby ecosystems.

An early study by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences predicted that each mining ship will release about 2 million cubic feet of discharge every day. The authors called this a “conservative estimate’ since other projections had been three times as high. By any measure, they concluded, “a very large area will be blanketed by sediment to such an extent that many animals will not be able to cope with the impact and whole communities will be severely affected by the loss of individuals and species.”

The scale of this operation has never been seen before, there is no frame of reference, and although the experts have assumptions and projections, there is no telling what the true consequences will be until it has happened.

Humans have ravaged and wasted this earth for centuries in the pursuit of wealth and riches via digging for oil, iron ore, natural gas, gold, diamonds, pearls, rubies and other valuable metals and gemstones.

Now we are setting our sights on areas that have the potential to cause even more damage.

Why are we willing to bring damage and destruction to so many habitats?

Is it possible that we, as a race of beings, will never learn from our mistakes?

And what is the reason for this – is it because it has never been done before, the last frontier of human exploration or is it a case of wanting financial gain?

In either case, is it possible that we simply want more?

But the problem with wanting more, is that nothing will ever satisfy us and then we will want even more.

The only place to go after this will be different planets and further into space.

We would never consider trashing our own home.

Mother Earth is also our home – so why are we always looking for ways to destroy it?

Tropical forests matter to each and every one of us. They suck colossal quantities of carbon out of the atmosphere, providing a crucial break on the rate of climate change. Yet, new research just published in Nature shows that intact tropical forests are removing far less carbon dioxide than they used to.

A professor of Global Change Science at University of Leeds and UCL, along with 181 scientists from 36 countries have spent years tracking over 300,000 individual trees deep in the world’s rainforests and have come to an alarming conclusion.

The change is staggering. Across the 1990’s, intact tropical forests – those unaffected by logging or fires – removed roughly 46 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This diminished to an estimated 25 billion tonnes in the 2010’s. The lost sink capacity is 21 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to a decade of fossil fuel emissions from the UK, Germany, France and Canada combined.

They do this by identifying the tree species and measure the diameter and height of every individual tree in an area of forest. Then a few years later they return to the same forest and re-measure all the trees again. We can see which grew, which died and if any new trees have grown.

These measurements allow us to calculate how much carbon is stored in a forest, and how it changes over time. By repeating the measurements enough times and in enough places, we can reveal long-term trends in carbon uptake.

The final part of their analysis looked to the future. They used a statistical model and estimates of future environmental change to estimate that by 2030 the African forests’ capacity to remove carbon will decrease by 14%, while Amazonian forests may stop removing carbon dioxide altogether by 2035. Scientists have long feared that one of Earth’s large carbon sinks would switch to become a source – meaning that instead of removing carbon dioxide, it will start to produce the gas.

This process has, unfortunately, begun.

A carbon sink is a natural system that sucks up and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The main natural carbon sinks are plants, the ocean and the soil with the ocean being the major carbon storage system for carbon dioxide – marine animals also take up carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, while some carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the seawater.https://www.livescience.com/32354-what-is-a-carbon-sink.html

As a race of people we have a lot to answer for.

Whatever our way of thinking on how climate change is being affected, the one thing that cannot be disputed is the fact that it is we humans, that are creating this change.

We are the ones who are responsible for the deforestation of these amazing, essential tropical forests.

We are the ones responsible for all of the forest fires that contribute to the loss of these forests.

We are the ones responsible for our behaviours and neglect of Mother Earth.

Whether it is from deforestation, forest fires, the way we live our lives or anything else, we are the ones that are doing all of this to these areas.

The title of this article is about how the rainforests are losing their ability to help humanity.

On reflection I would say that this title is wrong.
The rainforests have done everything they could possibly have done. Humanity has done nothing to help these rainforests.

Is it possible that a truer statement would be that “Humanity is Losing their Power to Help Humanity”?

I like to see it as Mother Earth saying ‘enough is enough and to start to take responsibility for our actions’.

The scientists say that the process of a natural carbon sink has already started to reverse into an area that will now start to produce carbon dioxide.

Is it possible that, we, can only abuse something for so long before, we, in turn, start to be abused?

An interesting bit of news for those who are interested in the impact of how we as humans impact our planet.

Isolation measures can be felt far, wide and very deep according to Earthquake experts.
Our earth is shaking less as we are not creating the vibrations that are caused by cars, trains, buses and the public going about their day outside their homes.

Our outside world seems to have a new stillness and calm.
A seismologist published a graph showing a huge drop in noise in West London, after schools and social venues were closed.

What is this telling us about our movements on Earth and what the consequences are?

Could it be possible that mankind – us humans are creating and causing a disturbance to our gentle and precious Earth by the way we move in our daily lives?

Is there a way to live that does not pound the Earth in any way and is this something we have chosen to forget with our current lifestyles?

Next –

May sound a bit way off and whacky, but what if a numerologist in the future was studying this and realised this news story is published on the 4th day of the 4th month in 2020 and that means another 4?

ALL the 4’s – what if there is more here for us to learn just by applying the numbers and knowing what they represent?

Scientists have discovered microplastics in greater quantities on the seabed and gathered clues as to how ocean currents and deep-sea circulation have carried them there before.

Microplastics – tiny pieces of plastic less than 5mm in size – are likely to accumulate most densely on the ocean floor in areas that are also biodiversity hotspots, intensifying the damage they may do to marine ecosystems.

The international research team found up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer near the seafloor covering just 1 sq metre. The discovery suggests that deep-sea currents act as conveyor belts that concentrate microplastics in hotspots, similar to the “garbage patches” visible on the surface in parts of the pacific.

Those same hotspots are also key breeding grounds for marine life, such as filter-feeding ascidians, or “sea-squirts”, which are particularly prone to microplastic ingestion, along with sponges and cold-water corals.

The lead author of the study, published in the journal Science, said that fragile ecosystems fed on nutrients and oxygenated water brought by the same ocean currents that carried microplastics. He said: “The real problem is plastics that are sat around in the environment, which can accumulate various pollutants and toxins on their surfaces. There’s evidence that some of these toxins may be released when in the guts of organisms and then you have the effect of the food chain, whereby small creatures are eaten by bigger creatures, and eventually you get to our fish stocks and you are eating a nice piece of tuna containing decades-old microplastics contaminated with all sorts of nastiness.”

Little research has been done so far on the impacts of microplastics on marine life but there have been some concerning findings. For instance, a recent study found hermit crabs exposed to microplastics seemed less able to select new shells to live in.

Most of the microplastic found in the study came not from the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic material, which previous thinking has suggested as the leading source of microplastics, but from textiles and clothing and according to the lead study author, it shows that much more can be done to prevent these tiny particles making it into the sea.

The most powerful interventions, however, would need to come from the government and waste and water treatment industries, such as using filtration to prevent microplastics reaching the sea in the first place. He said: “These filters exist, for example graphene filters developed at the University of Manchester and new nanocellulose filter developed in Finland…..But it’s really at the governmental policy level that these need to be implemented.”

So, we already know that to some degree, there are microplastics in the fish we eat.

We also know that we wouldn’t voluntarily choose to eat plastic, because we know that it would be toxic to our bodies.

How long will it be before measures are put in place to stop us from being poisoned by the fish we eat?

Will those in the government, the water treatment industries, health officials and anyone else concerned about this issue only act when it becomes too late and people are getting ill or dying?

Of course, WE, the human race, have a lot to answer here.

Plastics do not get into our waterways, streams, rivers and oceans by themselves.

It takes one of us to make this happen either, deliberately or irresponsibly.

Mother Earth has been suffering at the hands of humankind for far too long now

When will we stop polluting her?

When will we stop harming her?

When will we stop abusing her?

Like any living being, Mother Earth can only take so much before she has to ‘cleanse’ herself in the form of corrections like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornados, hurricanes, fires, floods, snow blizzards, etc.

And what do we do when Mother Earth has to correct herself?
We put the blame at the feet of God, of climate change or anyone else except ourselves.

Is it possible that the way we behave on Earth affects Mother Earth more than we will ever know?

Reading “The Good News Guide” in our local supermarket weekend supplement, it mentioned researchers have found a 25% reduction in ocean noise levels in some areas compared to the same period last year. Experts say the crisis is good news for whales and sea mammals.

Previous research tells us that noise from cruise and container ships is linked to higher stress levels in whales. When it gets noisy, whales call less. When there is less noise, whales have the opportunity to have more conversations says marine acoustician Michelle Fournet.

The above article is about the effects of ship noise on marine mammals as marine watercraft is on the rise. Given the important role sound plays in the life functions of marine mammals, research on the potential effects of vessel noise has grown – in particular since 2000.

It has been easier to access dolphins and whales so little is known about the potential effects of ship noise on pelagic and deep-diving marine mammals.

Concern about the potential effects of ship noise on marine mammals has been raised for decades – eg. Payne and Webb, 1971; Myrberg, 1978; Geraci and St Aubin, 1980.

This review sites numerous studies including noise from small boats which peaks at higher frequencies and the different variations of sound and their impact on marine life.

For the purposes of this comment – was our earth created with animals in the water for a reason?
Could it be possible that we are land animals and our job was not to go far afield on a luxury cruise ship because we can and have no concern about the impact of our choice to do so.

Have our whales adapted to the disturbance that humans – the so-called most intelligent species on earth have created by our lifestyle choices?

What if our whales are super sensitive, highly intelligent and play a huge part in the natural underwater life?
What if dolphins are equally sensitive and are affected by our man made noise and pollution in their water world?

WHY is research telling us that some underwater animals actually change their movements, in other words their behavior when vessels approach or are in their way. Another research states that underwater noise from watercraft has the potential to mask or alter the communication of a particular seal.

Enough said – the point of this comment is we are currently in a global pandemic, which means serious travel restrictions and our whales experience less stress.

Going forward, is this something we all need to consider before booking our next getaway?
What impact our choices, our movements – our behaviour has on the earth.

Many of us bang on about saving the earths resources but are we looking at it through our selective lense that gives us the licence to do what we want and at the same time champion areas of ‘saving the earth’ where it suits us? Makes no sense if we look at it with common sense.